The Sun Also Rises
by Inklessquills
Summary: Katniss, a volunteer nurse, looks after a familiar patient. AU


The Sun Also Rises

**Disclaimer: **I don't own The Hunger Games or the title.

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Katniss finished putting away the last of the clean linen. They went through a lot of it here at the hospital. The war was messy and violent. Injured soldiers required cleanliness.

She had seen it all in her nearly two years as a volunteer nurse. From disfigured faces to missing limbs and stomach hanging out of bodies. Nothing bothered her anymore. It was one of the lessons she had to learn when she arrived. Don't let _anything_ bother you.

"Nurse Everdeen, one more thing before you go to your dormitory."

"Yes, sister Coin. What is it?" She asked the woman.

Sister Coin nodded her head toward a cot with the curtain drawn around it. "Leg amputation. But I'm afraid infection has set in. He doesn't have long."

Katniss understood what she was asking. Often, when a soldier was down to his last moments, a nurse was asked to be there with them. No one should die alone. Katniss had done this plenty of times. One more before bed, she thought.

Katniss pulled aside the curtain to let herself in.

Messy blonde hair and pale sickly skin. The thick sheets were pulled up to his waist, covering his injury. A man, about her age, dying of infection. And she knew him. She did. He was the baker's son, back in her village. She had seen him around before the war. They never spoke, but _she knew him_.

She took a seat in the chair that had been placed next to his cot. Then, she took his hand.

"Peeta Mellark," she said, a sad smile on her face, "How are you doing?"

He struggled to open his eyes, so blue,then he focused on her face. A small smile adorned his lips.

"Katniss Everdeen. Small world."

"It is."

He took shallow breaths. Really, not much longer now.

"I'm dying." He said. Katniss did not have the heart to lie. He'd die and she'd be here watching.

"I'm dying...and you're here." She didn't understand what he meant by that.

"I loved you, you know." Her eyes widened slightly but she did not let go of his hand when he tightened his grip. "So much. I've loved you for the longest time. Ever since you sang that Valley Song in school. I was hooked." He coughed. All the talking was draining him.

"I wanted to come back a hero. And maybe you could have loved me, too."

Katniss looked right at him and suddenly it was, too late. She could see it, their lives, in her head. Every image colorful and detailed.

He would have returned and he would have told her that he loved her. She would have been flattered, but happy to agree to a date.

And they would have kissed near the lake at the meadow. A slow and beautiful first kiss, like she had read in all those silly romance novels the other girls let her borrow.

Their wedding would have been a grand affair in the village. A wedding fit for a war hero and his bride. And she would have walked down the isle as everyone else melted away into the background. And he would grin, so wide her heart would skip a beat. They'd have eyes only for each other.

Children. He'd want children. A girl with her black hair and his lovely blue eyes. A boy with his golden hair and her steel colored gaze. They would be infinitely happy.

And then it was over. Then, she was back at the hospital and she was seated next his bed. His grip had loosened. Hands already losing the heat. She stared at their hands. Still together.

She moved her gaze from their hands to his face. Eyes closed and a peaceful expression. Katniss blinked a couple of times, gathering her thoughts. She leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead. "I would have loved you, Peeta Mellark." She whispered.

She felt something on her shoulder. Sister Coin.

"Go to your dormitory, Nurse Everdeen. Get some sleep." Katniss nodded and rose up from her chair. She left, not sparing another glance at the fallen hero. Tomorrow there would be more death. It was inevitable.

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I borrowed the title from Ernest Hemingway's book _The Sun Also Rises. _I think it reflects a cycle. How Katniss sees death regularly while she's a nurse and she doesn't let it get to her. When she does, with Peeta, she has to let it go because there will be more to come. Another day that she can't stop from coming. I hope you all like it. Read and Review! :)


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